Summer Cook was still coming to grips with her accomplishment well after the Elite Women’s race at the ITU World Triathlon Series event in Edmonton on Sunday.

The 25-year-old American could not believe she actually won.

Cook stormed from behind in the sprint triathlon at William Hawrelak Park edging out countrywomen Sarah True and Katie Zaferes in an all U.S. podium. Joanna Brown of Ottawa was the top Canadian, finishing 17th, while local fan favourite Paula Findlay finished 32nd.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, this is by far the best result of my career to date,” Cook said. “I’m really thrilled. I came in wanting to finish in the top 10 and I had to work really hard at some points throughout the race. I was really struggling at some points throughout the bike and then I really struggled in T2 (second transition) because I couldn’t feel my hands and my feet. But I’m really proud of myself for being able to push through the mentally difficult parts of the race.”

Cook came from well back to win the race, which had been dictated by True and Flora Duffy of Bermuda, who finished fourth and maintained her series points lead.

Cook was third after the 750-metre swim, then dropped to ninth in the 20km bike portion of the race, at times, struggling to hang on with the lead breakaway group. Led by Duffy, the lead group pulled nearly 20 seconds away from the rest of the pack.

“I really had to work through some mentally difficult and uncomfortable points on the bike to stay there,” Cook said. “And there were some points where I wasn’t sure if I could do it.”

Cook managed to stay with the lead group on the bike, then quickly worked her way to fifth in the 5km run. True, who crashed out of the Olympic race in Rio, had taken control on the run and looked like she would cruise to victory until Cook overtook her on the final lap of the race.

“I went into this race not sure what was going to happen between the cold and my body’s had some issues since Rio,” True said. “It’s obviously nice to be on the podium and even better to have my compatriots up there with me. It would have been nice to come away with the win, but Summer had a little extra towards the end. None the less, it was a fun, hard race, which is what you would expect at this level.”

Cook reeled in Duffy, Zaferes and then blew past True to take the lead and held on to win by three seconds in a time of 56 minutes 49.5 seconds.

“It didn’t feel like I blew by her,” Cook smiled. “I was pretty determined to not look back and see where she was. At the start of the second lap I realized that I was in fifth and then I thought maybe I could get on the podium. I wasn’t sure how far back the chase pack was. I knew there were a lot of really good runners in that pack, so I just wanted to move into that space and see where I was. I still felt good when I moved into a podium position and I realized I was still moving up and I was able to find another gear.”

True, who injured her back in Rio and had it stiffen up on Sunday, was able to hold off a hard-charging Zaferes for second place.

“I think everybody kind of ran this race different,” Zaferes said. “It was good at least for me there was never an alone time there was always someone to look forward to and even when Summer came by I think that helped me pick up the pace to help me get on the podium.”

Despite finishing off the podium, Duffy maintained her points lead heading into the final event in Cozumel, Mexico, next weekend.

“I’m happy with how the race went, although fourth is a little bit frustrating particularly for the series, because I’m leading the series and I wanted to get higher than fourth,” Duffy said. “In a short raced like this, you’re kind of full out from the start. In this race I wanted to finish in the top three to go into the Grand Final with a bit of a buffer. It nearly worked out, but I’m happy with it and I still have a nice lead going into the Grand Final, that’s great.”

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